European Ports

European Ports

Commentary

Amid the deluge of year-end statistics highlighting the yawning economic gap between the European Union’s more solid northern member states and its debt-stricken southern half there’s one that looks, at first glance, like a mistake — container traffic.

News & Analysis

Greece’s pledge on Tuesday not to halt ongoing and planned privatizations has paved the way for the sale of the state’s stakes in the ports of Piraeus and Thessaloniki, Athens airport and rail freight companies.

The Spanish port of Algeciras maintained its narrow lead over domestic rival Valencia as the biggest Mediterranean container hub in 2014, but it faces a growing challenge from new West African terminals.

HHLA’s operating profit jumped 10 percent in 2014 as the largest container handler in the port of Hamburg shrugged off lower Russian feeder shipments and a slump in traffic at its Ukraine terminal that left total volume unchanged from the previous year.

Greece’s new government, headed by the populist left wing Syriza Party, said it will scrap the planned privatization of the port of Piraeus, one of Europe’s fastest-growing container ports, fueling uncertainty over its stance toward the nation’s shipping community, which controls the world’s largest fleet.

Europe’s ports face a rocky ride in 2015, dominated by a potential glut of container-handling capacity in the north that will only be partially offset by steadily rising transshipment traffic in the Mediterranean.

The International Transport Workers' Federation has stepped up its protest of automation at the new Rotterdam World Gateway container terminal, and called for “all parties” to discuss RWG’s labor arrangements.